Tag: art

High…Trashion?

July 6th, 2008

On the heels of my last post, it seems appropriate to share this gem from a recent google image odyssey:

Editorial? Joke? One can only hope. Though with the proliferation of completely unnecessary decadence in modern products, one never knows.

I’m glad the search also brought me to this sculpture by Meryl Smith in a post on Danny Daily:

The post touches upon my own fascination with the dark socio-economic implications of fashion, and the absurdity of status definition. It also featured a wonderful craft idea: refabricated designer knockoffs!

Get me to a NYC vendor so I can buy some imitations to mangle and rebuild!
Takashi Murakami

July 6th, 2008

The wonderful Louisa told me about Takashi Murakami’s exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

His work is almost too sweet to digest, save for the occasional third eye, strategic drips, odd spacing or other such detail that doesn’t let the observer quite rest into sugary oblivion.

I find his blend of high art, lowbrow and commerce intriguing.

Murakami’s style, called Superflat, is characterized by flat planes of color and graphic images involving a character style derived from anime and manga…Like Andy Warhol, Takashi Murakami takes low culture and repackages it, and sells it to the highest bidder in the “high-art” market. Unlike Warhol, Murakami also makes his repacked low culture available to all other markets in the form of paintings, sculptures, videos, T-shirts, key chains, mouse pads, plush dolls, cell phone caddies…(Wiki).

Murakami also teamed up with Louis Vuitton to manufacture some outlandishly priced handbags. I truly hope this was a satiric commentary on the lengths people will go to in order to possess limited edition high fashion items. I will NEVER understand the appeal of labels and logos. I’d love to slap some of my quirky artwork on a designer brand and laugh all the way to the bank. Suckers.
Matthew Laznicka

July 3rd, 2008

Matthew Laznicka does classic style pulp art, with robots, aliens, even cephalopods! Fun stuff.
Hannah Stouffer

July 3rd, 2008

Hannah Stouffer does some beautifully detailed line work. I’m also partial to her pieces that look like fabric, lace, textbooks and illustrations were thrown in a blender and poured out into delightful collages.
The New Masked Madness

July 2nd, 2008

Regardless of what you may think of Slipknot as a band, the craftsmanship of their masks is undeniably fantastic. They certainly give the infamous Hannibal Lecter, Leatherface and Pinhead a run for their money (click image to enlarge).

Doesn’t this collection make you want to watch video classics like this masterpiece by Tool?
Someone’s Stolen My Nightmare

June 30th, 2008

This site posted a series of desktop wallpapers, some of which are quite stunning.

Every few months, I dream of the apocalypse (my subconscious usually conjures up shifting planetary alignment and massive flooding; the images are vivid and breathtaking). I swear, someone crafted this image around my last apocalyptic nightmare.
Asaf Hanuka

June 26th, 2008

Asaf Hanuka has a great collection of editorial illustrations that gently (or in many cases NOT so gently) expose the seedy underbelly of modern corporate culture. Marketing, corruption, ignorance, bribery, thievery, greed, self-interest, lies, apathy, depression, prejudice, predators…and children’s stories.

My favorite, for personal reasons:
Mike Brown

June 22nd, 2008

Mike Brown’s dragon bunny looks like it will not only kill you…it will consume your very soul. This is evil on a quantum level; the evil of possibilities.

Only slightly less menacing are his sea creatures, which still seem to harbor dark and dangerous secrets.

Brown even infuses a disquieting sense of life into a tree stump.

I couldn’t find an official wesbite (I stumbled upon these long ago), but will update if I do.
Space Biscuits

June 22nd, 2008

This is undoubtedly the first of MANY posts that will feature prints from my favorite retro art/ad site, Plan 59.

If space were indeed filled with floating, fluffy biscuits, I would become an astronaut without hesitation.

(Why they fail to equip this little girl with a proper space helmet is beyond me…don’t girls need to breathe too? Oh wait…it was the 50’s).

And here’s what it’s like in space (Mars, to be exact) WITHOUT biscuits. Not so blissful anymore, eh? My guess is that the Methane and Argon in the Martian atmosphere do not support biscuit life. Biscuits thrive only in monochromatic sky blue dimensions of outer space, clearly.

Ah, Plan 59, you brighten my days.
Vicente Marti

June 20th, 2008

LCS just posted the anatomical art of Vicente Marti; vintage diagrams tempered with the colorful, chaotic feel of pop/street art.

Anatomical art will always have a special place in my heart…awful pun intended.